Always wanted to go to Oktoberfest but just could not make it to Munich? The next best thing is right in Webster! The 1st Annual Oktoberfest will be hosted in the village of Webster on September 21st and 22nd, starting at 5pm on Friday. There will be German foods and drinks (obviously) and music provided by Rochester’s original Oktoberfest band. It is not only a great experience for the parents to learn about the German culture but rather the whole family. Saturday will feature a bounce house, slides, climbing walls, face painting and much more for the kids to enjoy. This is a great opportunity to embrace the coming of the fall season and the coming of October.

Just before the school year began a few weeks ago, one of my Webster Thomas colleagues posted an interesting comment on Facebook. When I read it, I immediately realized that it had some validity. Now, two weeks into the new school year, I recognize how wise it really was.

The comment said something to the effect of, “It’s nice to get back on a school schedule because you can start looking forward to the weekends again.”

How true that is, at least for me. During the summer, when I don’t have my regular school-day schedule to keep me grounded, I kind of flounder. You’d think that having all sorts of free time would encourage me to get a lot of things done. Instead, it encourages me to be lazy, to spread out all my tasks throughout the day — or week — so that things never seem to get done. And when I don’t have to get up and go anywhere every morning, one day is pretty much like the next — even Saturday and Sunday.

But when school is back in session and I’m back at work, I have to get focused. I accomplish in a few hours after school what might have taken days over the summer. Laundry. Housekeeping. Cooking. Ironing. All because I simply don’t have the time to putz around.

And of course, being so focused during the week means the weekend’s relative freedom from workday time restraints is that much sweeter. So by Tuesday, thoughts of the upcoming weekend are already helping me get through the workday. This week, for example, I’m already looking forward to enjoying some music and lifting a pint at my favorite pub on Friday night, wandering around Village Days on Saturday to snap some photos, and putting my feet up in front of the Bills game on Sunday.

And if I have the time to get some housework done, I might just do that as well. But on the weekend, laundry and ironing are on MY terms.

Some young aviators ready their planes before last year's Model Plane Flying Contest.

The event, which has in years past been scheduled in mid-August, took a skip-step this year and has landed on a brand new weekend, this Friday and Saturday September 21 and 22. The village decided to move the festival to get away from what has traditionally been a VERY busy summer weekend for vendors. Being up against five other festivals that weekend made attracting vendors to Webster a difficult proposition. It was also always really, really hot.

So what used to be a celebration of summer is now a celebration to welcome autumn, with even more vendors and more entertainment than ever before. They’re also combining Saturday’s sidewalk sale activities with the Main Street Farmer’s Market.

The fun starts Friday night with an Octoberfest theme, featuring a Super Food Court and a concert by The Krazy Firemen at the gazebo. On Saturday, Main Street will be closed for a street festival from 9:30-4, including lots of food, kids’ activities and live music. Here are some details:

Street Festival from 9:30 – 4, featuring craft and food vendors, bounce house and slides for the kids, face painting and live music. Performance Hobbies will hold their annual Model Plane Flying Contest at 1 pm at the gazebo. The Super Food Court will once again be in full swing, and live music at the gazebo begins at 4 pm.

And don’t forget to stop by the Webster Museum while you’re in town for Village Days. They’ll have a special Alive and Interactive exhibit taking place from 10 am – 4 pm which the kids especially will love.

You can meet the family from the Witmer Store, the Candy Kitchen and the Lucas Drug Store. You’ll also be able to try your hand at digging for arrowheads, grind corn like the Native Americans, play some Pioneer Games, visit the museum’s period school room, make a bean bag, watch some basket weaving, and take a photo on the chuck wagon.

The museum is located at 18 Lapham Park, just a short stroll from the center of the village. It’s handicap accessible.

If you tend to get a bit bored while pumping your gas, I recommend you take a closer look at the warning sticker on the pump for entertainment. I had occasion to do that yesterday as I was gassing up at Delta Sonic. The grammar nerd in me could only laugh at some of the things it said. Here are the two worst:

“Turn off cell phones or other electronic devices while fueling. Leaving them in your vehicle.”

and

“Do not fill a containers that is inside or on a vehicle.”

There’s a lesson here: Kids, learn proper grammar in school. You’ll need it for pretty much every job — even a job writing stickers.

* * *

I was also at BayTowne Plaza yesterday, and noticed that they finally put some blacktop down on the north side of the plaza in front of the old Tops store. That finally allowed them to re-line that area, greatly improving the very confusing and contradictory mess of driving lane markings that was there. Even so, the lane configuration they have chosen still defies explanation, and from what I saw, people are still ignoring the lines and driving wherever they please.

Do you think the people who designed this lane configuration were the same people who painted the lines at Plank and Empire?

Rodeo volunteers doubled as canopy-holders to keep the tents from flying away in the winds. (Click on the photo to see more.)

If you were one of the thousands of people who came out to the Trucks for the Tower Food Truck Rodeo on Friday evening, thank you! If you didn’t… well, I don’t blame you for a second.

Mother Nature chose to play a very cruel trick on the event, sending gale-force winds, pounding rains, and even a threat of hail Friday night, all of which arrived — coincidentally — right when the rodeo was scheduled to begin, and ended — coincidentally — right when the the rodeo was scheduled to end. As a result, a good percentage of the event’s very well-laid plans never happened. The bounce house and obstacle course the YMCA brought for the kids could not be used. The hundreds of chairs neatly set up in the dining area were never sat on. Volunteers originally scheduled to man ticket tables, sell concessions and pick up trash were reassigned to hold down the pop-up canopies so the wind wouldn’t turn them into big blue kites.

Not rain nor wind nor dark of night could keep these young ladies from having a good time in the dining room. (Click on the photo to see more.)

When it became clear that it wouldn’t simply be a matter of waiting the storm out, as many activities as possible were moved inside the Shriner Center, including the raffles, concessions, entertainment and dining. And so the festival continued.

And thanks to this incredible community, the event did very well, despite the weather. The parking lot was filled, the dining room was packed most of the night, and even though people looked like wet rats when they came into the building, they were smiling and having fun.

And the Shriners. What a wonderful bunch of people they are. Without blinking an eye, they allowed us to invade their facility at a moment’s notice. If they had not been so accommodating, the Trucks for the Tower fund-raiser would have been a huge failure.

So thank you again to everyone who helped pull this event together. To the individuals and businesses who donated services and prizes. To the Shriners for their hospitality. And to the Webster community as a whole for your unwavering support. Thanks to you, we’ll have the Bay View YMCA climbing tower rebuilt before the start of next year’s summer camp.

TheFriends of Webster Trailshave made some amazing progress in the last year in creating a brand new set of trails at the Four Mile Creek Preserve, corner of Phlllips and Lake roads. Thanks in large part to help from some Eagle Scout bridge-building projects, the preserve’s west-side trails will be ready later this fall.

Now the Friends would like to create a parking area at the trail head/fishing access point on Phillips Road. Problem is, the Town of Webster does not have the funds this year to accomplish that.

As a result, the Friends are looking for someone who knows someone who would be willing to donate some bulldozer work at cost. The work would involve clearing tree stumps and top soil, boxing out the lot and grading the millings which will be supplied by the highway department.

Do you remember in the movie The Jerk, the scene where Steve Martin jumps around with great excitement, exclaiming, “The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!” Well, that’s how I feel whenever that little local Webster phone book appears in my mailbox, as it did yesterday.

I just love this little phone book. Not only is it a much easier size to manage, the listings don’t bother including anybody I don’t want to call anyway. It saves me a lot of time when I want to look up someone or some business here in Webster, without having to sift through a thousand pages and hundreds of thousands of names. Cute and to-the-point.

It’s also nice to have a Webster/Penfield pull-out map at my fingertips, and the directories of municipal phone numbers and school information are very convenient.

I mean, let’s face it. Webster is the center of our universe. This is a great publication to use when you need to find you way around. If you didn’t get one, they’re usually available at several local businesses, so keep an eye out for them.

I had the pleasure of attending two very worthwhile events in the village last night.

Inside, Renee Short and Jozina Marshall welcomed shoppers.

The first was the inaugural Webster Cash Mob, an event which was meant to encourage shoppers to descend en masse on one local business during one very short window of time, therein giving that small business owner an economic boost. The target of this first cash mob was Yesterday’s Muse Bookstore on West Main Street.

Unfortunately, the number of people who actually “descended” on Yesterday’s Muse was far less than a mass. It was more like 15-20. I think the mob organizer, Renee Short, was a little disappointed by the turnout, but undeterred. She was already planning a second mob for sometime in October.

When that one happens, I challenge this village to overwhelm the place.

One of Yesterday's Muse's two watchcats.

My next stop was Veterans Park, where the village held its annual 9/11 memorial ceremony. While this year’s event paled somewhat to last year’s tenth-anniversary observance, it was still moving.

The 30-minute ceremony featured speeches by Mayor Peter Elder, Senator Michael Nozzolio and Assemblyman Mark Johns, and some beautiful music by the Chorus of the Genesee and village piper Jack Jacob Jarosinski. It concluded with Taps, beautifully performed from the hilltop by a lone bugler. Always makes me want to cry.

Webster is only one of a handful of Rochester-area towns still commemorating the events of 9/11/01. I asked Mayor Elder about that, to which he responded, “If we don’t remember the heroes of 9/11, we’ll forget the sacrifices they made. We need to keep those memories alive.”

And how many more years does he expect Webster to continue the tradition?

“As long as we possibly can. It’s very important.”

Click here or on the photo to redirect to a small gallery of photos from the ceremony.

The 3rd of 4 Bay Bridge closings occurred September 7 – 9, 2012. This time the east bound lanes were closed. As during the previous east & westbound bridge closings, didn’t expect to see many problems, since closing warnings were shown on TV, in newspapers and on the electronic signs.

I went out Friday evening after 7 pm, and traffic seemed light on westbound Empire Blvd; and as I approached 590 S, I began to wonder if the eastbound closing had been cancelled, because I also didn’t see any detour signs. Well, there was a different story on return home.

As I neared Empire Blvd exit from 590 N, I noticed traffic was backed up; OK, so, I’m thinking the lane closures did occur, but, this traffic back up seemed heavier than expected. I then discovered there was an accident near corner of Winton & Empire, and eastbound Empire traffic was blocked, meaning traffic was detoured west onto Empire. Sensing more traffic delays, I turned around on the ramp and headed north on 590 to Norton, then onto 590 S, to Browncroft, heading east; many drivers took same route.

After this mini – detour, and finally onto Creek St, and then home, my wife Brenda, happened to call me as she was also heading home; I told her to take the Browncroft exit. She did state that electronic sign was directing drivers to exit at Browncroft due to the accident.

I watched the 11 pm news that night and checked the Saturday D&C for info about the accident, but, didn’t see anything. Nevertheless, such careful traffic planning can’t anticipate accidents. Hopefully, the last closure will be smooth.

The Village of Webster remembers the tragic events of 9/11/01 this evening with a memorial service at Veterans Memorial Park on North Avenue.

Last year’s ceremony was a very memorable event, which began with a solemn procession of first responders from the Webster Fire Department’s Enterline Station on South Ave to the park. It was followed by addresses from local officials, a presentation of the flag by the Cub Scouts, and some very moving music. I expect this year’s ceremony to be just as nice. Click here to see a Facebook gallery of photos from last year.

The ceremony begins at 7 pm at the gazebo, and the weather looks great.

Missy Rosenberry, a graduate of Cornell University, spent many of her post-college years in radio, advertising and public relations. After taking most of the 1990s off to have her three children, she is now a full-time teaching assistant for the Webster school district, and a part-time karate instructor. She and husband Jack have lived in the Webster/Penfield area with the kids for 11 years. She'd like to use her blog to help others learn more about the Webster community.

Roderick Spratling is a husband and father of two who has lived in the community for over 18 years. Born and raised in Detroit, Spratling is a 1976 graduate of Michigan State University who earned a master’s degree in Manufacturing Management & Leadership from RIT in 2004. He’s a Purchasing Consultant in Global Purchasing for Xerox Corp., and he enjoys softball, bowling, photography, and traveling.